Sakura and her Second Life Lived
by Rebellious Bookworm
Summary: Naruto was killed by Sasuke in the Fourth Shinobi War. Years later, in a world crumbling beneath Sasuke's wrath, Sakura and Sasuke meet on the battlegrounds. This time Sakura doesn't make it out alive. However, instead of joining her friends in the afterlife, Sakura is given another chance. She is reborn as Sakura Uzumaki. The question is, can Sakura cope with canon Naruto's fate?
1. Prologue

**Hello, this is my first fanfiction story. I normally do the reading part and not the writing part, so bear with me.**

 **This was a initially a project at school, which became a form of stress relief for me. We were going through poetry in one class and reflecting on similar events that have occured in history in the other; weirdly out of that, this baby was born.**

 **I blame a friend of mine, who is obsessed with time travelling and reincarnation (unsurprisingly, she's a Dr Who fan). She thought the idea of being reincarnated back in time would be awesome, but I was more focused on the repercussions that reincarnation/time travel would have on the person and events that are, and probably, won't occur.**

 **My friend wanted me to write a Dr Who fanfiction story, but I know next to nothing about that series, so we settled on Naruto.**

 **Naruto, or Sasuke, was going to be the main character of this story, but then I knew either of those characters would be OP from birth. (I mean, they're essentially gods with all the skills and power they have). So, my friend persuaded me to use Sakura.**

 **Characters will be definitely OOC.**

 **I'm giving you a warning, my grammar isn't great.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or these characters, I'm just adapting and playing around with canon for my own entertainment(sorry Masashi Kishimoto, I hope I don't slaughter your great work too much).**

* * *

 ** _"Do not go gentle into that good night._**

 ** _Rage, rage against the dying of the light [1]."_**

 ** _"O, none, unless this miracle have might,_**

 ** _That in black ink my love may still shine bright [2]."_**

The sun died, snuffed out by the night and, in that darkness, no one thrived. Days were spent fighting, hiding, running, all to survive. So many lights went out, turning the world colder and colder, but still he was not satisfied.

No one wore smiles or carried joy in their hearts; they were just sad, just as broken, just as bitter and just as angry as he, but still he was not satisfied.

Even when night's blade caught her, even when the earth beneath them drank her blood, even when his lightning made her tired vessel convulse, he was still not satisfied.

In fact, as her world was swallowed by black and her heart slowly stopped drumming, she spared one last glance into his ebony eyes and found nothing but frustration.

"Nothing can give you meaning, Sasuke. You're doomed to be hollow," were the final words she spent her last breath on and that felt like enough.

All she wanted now was to join familiar faces, hear familiar laughter and finally have warmth seep through her pores.

Yet it seemed fate had another plan.

* * *

 ** _"History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes [3]."_**

A gorgeous woman knelt over her baby, a halo of red silk (the same hue of red as leaves in autumn) surrounded the child's face, protecting her from the horror outside these walls.

Teary eyes, a dark shade of forget-me-not blue, soaked in the sight of child's flushed cheeks and the tuffs of pink sticking out from her head. Her laughter came out garbled, sounding more like choking.

"Ne, I thought red and yellow made orange, not pink," she whispered, voice heavy with sorrow. The child continued to sleep, just as she had after she was born. While a masked assassin mingled her midwives blood with her own, her daughter slumbered, innocently unaware of the chaos the man wrought around them.

Then, before the man's kunai could bury itself inside her chest, a flash of yellow appeared, whisking her and their child away.

Kushina whispered another prayer to any god who listened, thanking them for that small mercy. It was too painful to think of what the assassin might have done to their child while her body, not yet cold, laid only a few feet away.

She felt his chakra before she felt his hand on her shoulder. Reluctantly, she peeled her eyes away from their daughter and met his gaze. His eyes said more than words ever would.

They would never see their daughter grow.

Minato kneeled beside her and, for a moment, everything was right in Kushina's world. She had her family right here with her and, if she concentrated hard enough, her ears were deaf to the noise of screams and roars outside of their home.

Minato carefully raised their daughter into his arms, so tentatively and gentle as if she was a fragile glass doll. When he pressed a soft kiss against their daughter's forehead, Kushina fell even more in love with him and she didn't think that was possible (not when she already felt like he was her oxygen and there was no life without him).

"I don't think the name Naruto is going to cut it," Minato joked, trying to spare her a smile. It came out a grimace.

Kushina played along, she deserved at least one more domestic moment before the inevitable. "Now that you mention it, I don't think she is a he, as we expected. I told you we should have painted the room pastel green, not blue, dattebane."

Minato studied the room, painted baby blue, around him. There were frog teddies of different sizes lined up on top of the wooden drawers, a seashell mobile hanging over the crib (made by Kushina because even though Uzushio was gone, she was determined to implement some aspects of the village into their child's life), a wooden rocking chair Jiraiya bought them ("where was he meant to read to his god child," the man had asked, "on the floor?"), a rocking horse that Mikoto had gifted them and a fluffy light blue blanket draped over the crib's side (Kakashi didn't know what babies needed, but he wanted to give them something).

This was meant to be the room their daughter grew up in. This was where he was meant to rush to, at god awful hours of the night, to settle her cries, rock her, change her and feed her.

Kushina, reading the look on her husband's face, tried to shift his attention by asking, "what should we name her? I can't remember if there was a female character in his book."

Minato twirled a short lock of pink around his pinkie finger. "Sakura, I think we should name her Sakura."

Kushina nodded, agreeing with him. Their child's hair was the same shade as cherry blossoms. "Sakura, Sakura Namikaze."

Minato winced and stood, shattering the moment with his action. "I have too many enemies for her to carry my last name."

Fear struck and embedded its talons in her heart at the thought of their daughter alone.

"I can seal it into her!" Kushina exclaimed, bunching up the sleeve of his kage's robes in her fist as she tugged him towards her. "Let her have one parent Mina, I… I won't live long b-because of the extraction. She'll need you!"

Minato shook his head, his reserve firm despite the tears gathering in his eyes. "You don't have enough chakra and you don't know the seal like I do."

"Then we go together," Kushina rushed onto her feet, ignoring the bout of dizziness she suffered, and she fought off the need to drop back onto the floor. Her body was too tired. Birth had sucked all the energy from her before the forced extraction had done more damage.

Beating Minato to speak, silencing any argument he could make, Kushina stated. "Let me die protecting her too. I refuse to die here, a-alone when you two are out there, in trouble. I love you both more than life itself."

Minato reluctantly nodded and instructed her to grip his elbow. He wished for more time, more time to hold his daughter, to soothe his wife of her fears, but they had used more time than they had already.

Konoha needed them.

 ** _"_ _Don't forget to eat your vegetables. Don't be like kaa-chan at school, be like tou-san and study. Change your underwear daily. Laugh more than you cry. Don't stay up late. Brush your teeth, baby teeth are very important. And… A-and… know that kaa-chan and tou-san love you so much. More than anything, Sakura-chan, we want you to be happy."_**

* * *

 **[1] Do not go gentle into that good night, by Dylan Thomas. (You can access this poem with this link, if you wish: poetsorg/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night).**

 **[2]** **Sonnet 65: Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea, by William Shakespeare. (You can access this poem with this link, if you wish:** **poems/50646/sonnet-65-since-brass-nor-stone-nor-earth-nor-boundless-sea).**

 **[3] It's a Mark Twain quote, as far as I'm aware. I've always liked this quote.**

 **Forgive me if my writing isn't great. Writing isn't a strength of mine, which is why I tend to stick to reading. With schoolwork and other things in life, I'm writing to relieve stress. With that being said, I might not be the best story updater...er...** **(in a roundabout way, I'm saying that I'm going to suck at updating regularly).**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	2. Diverging paths

**I was astonished by the interest I garnered with this story. Honestly, it was a random idea that became a rushed piece of one thousand and something words. Thank you for your reviews, I never expected any, so it meant a lot to me.**

 **Before I continue my massacre of Kishimoto's masterpiece, I want to warn you (again) that characters will be OOC. View this as an alternate universe or different dimension to canon Naruto. Sakura is going to be OOC in this story.**

 **Anyways, without much further ado, here's the next chapter.**

* * *

 ** _"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,_**

 ** _But I have promises to keep,_**

 ** _And miles to go before I sleep,_**

 ** _And miles to go before I sleep [1]."_**

She laid there in the dark alone, drinking in the moonlight and watching the shadows climb the walls. In every breath she hungrily inhaled, she was hit by a surge of grief and guilt, which exhaling never got rid of.

At first, she believed she was ensnared within her own mind. That flimsy strings of subconsciousness chained her to the earth, refusing to let her escape into comfort and peace of death. Death was merciful, Sasuke was not.

However, in time, her field of vision expanded, along with her visual perception; splotches of various shades of grey became shapes and soon these shapes were filled in with colour. Initially, it was as if a toddler had impatiently smeared crayon across the page of a colouring book, but then, as the weeks rolled into months, everything became vividly clear.

There was no blackened earth, with cracks within its crust, nor was there a scarlet red sky looming over her. This wasn't Tsukuyomi, the technique Sasuke seemed to favour in the years before her death.

Bitter tears gathered in her eyes, threatening to overflow down the edges.

No, she wasn't trapped within an illusion. It was much worse.

She was alive.

While Naruto's flesh fed the earth and his bones slowly crumbled into dust, she was alive. While Kakashi's body, razed and ravaged by Amaterasu's rage, laid forgotten in the Valley of the End, she was alive.

"There it is, the demon brat," a harsh whisper greeted her ears and her tiny hands bundled into fists. She wanted to scream at them to leave her to rot in peace. She knew that wearing her blood on their hands would not bother these women in the slightest.

No, these women humiliated her day in and day out.

They left her, helplessly sitting in her own defecation and urine for hours until it clung to her bottom like cold cement and she reeked worse than the smell of an opened colostomy bag.

Sakura Haruno, medic extraordinaire and apprentice to the fifth hokage, was feeble and frail; everything she strode not to be.

She would rather be trapped in an genjutsu, alive yet slowly dying, than be imprisoned in the body of an infant.

What made matters worse was that she wasn't just any infant either.

"That baby is… is… is…?"

"Sakura Uzumaki, the fox demon."

The cruelty of the gods had no limits. Over Naruto's heart of gold and the tattered remains of an organ resting in Kakashi's chest, she was the one gifted with a second chance; not just any second chance either, she had stolen Naruto's life; she had ripped any chance of goodness prevailing out of the world's grasp.

* * *

 ** _"From the same source I have not taken_**

 ** _My sorrow—I could not awaken_**

 ** _My heart to joy at the same tone—_**

 ** _And all I lov'd—I lov'd alone [2]."_**

While her peers stumbled around like new-born does and slobbered more than spoke, Sakura was either training or reading. The orphanage workers found her superior physical and cognitive development bizarre, she heard their whispers behind her back.

She was strange and unusual for a child, especially a neglected child.

In their eyes, she taught herself to read and write. They were blissfully unaware of the twenty-three-year-old brain contained within a child's skull.

From the moment she conditioned her legs to bear and carry her weight, she toilet trained herself and, since she could take herself to the toilet, her orphanage caretakers became less hands on with her; even though they were never 'hands on' with her in the first place.

Sakura sighed, hoping to release every thought about the orphanage in that single breath. She didn't want to allow herself to be swallowed by a vortex of negative emotions because it would only throw her off course.

All her knowledge and skills from the past predominantly relied on her chakra control.

She had never branched out into ninjutsu or genjutsu, despite having a predisposal to the latter. In fact, she only had basic ninjutsu techniques, which she had learnt in the academy, in her arsenal.

As Tsunade's apprentice, she specialised in medical ninjutsu and taijutsu (that was supported by her chakra enhanced strength). She needed to learn how to manage her new chakra, the sooner the better, because it meant she would be able to put her skills to use.

It was sort of like she had every equipment and material needed for building a house at her disposal, but she didn't know how to build a house, so all the equipment and material were wasting away from disuse.

Without chakra control, her progress was stagnant.

That's why she stood in front of the oak tree in the orphanage's backyard, instead of being burrowed away in her room reading like she usually did.

"I can do this. I have to be able to do this."

Eyes closed, lashes resting on the apples of her cheeks, Sakura placed her hand against the truck of the oak; fingertips gripping the crevices of the bark.

She blocked out the sweet tweets of birds, singing to each other, and noise of rustling leaves until she felt a sense of serenity wash over her. Then, she decided to dip into her chakra reserves, to beckon forth a small stream of chakra to her hand so that she could brush it against the oak's natural chakra.

However, like a raging bull, her chakra stampeded towards the bark, reminiscent of a tidal wave, not the gentle trickle of a stream she had hoped for.

Sakura whipped her hand away and shoved her chakra back into its reserve. Frustrated, she glared at the chaotic patterns in the bark, as if they were to blame.

She had just wanted to test the tree's chakra, to feel it. By understanding the oak's chakra and the way it flowed, she would be able to manipulate her chakra, to allow her hand to stick to the bark with chakra alone, and not by physical grip.

Sakura growled under her breath. This task was meant to be basic, she had mastered this in one go.

"What are you doing?"

Sakura whipped her head around, astonished.

She had not sensed the intruder, were her skills becoming that rusty?

A boy, carrying a large scrap book bigger than his torso, waddled towards her.

He was another random child exploring the orphanage grounds because it piqued his interest, she assumed. There was no way he was an orphan. His clothes were too clean and not threadbare and, as he approached her, the wind carried a delicate lavender scent of washing liquid to her nose.

"Nothing that concerns you," Sakura hissed, narrowing her eyes at him in good measure. She hoped he would scram with his tail tucked between his legs and leave her be. Last thing she needed was attention drawn to her activities.

Surely the boy's parents would come running to escort him away from the demon and then file a complaint with hokage. It's happened before.

Once again, the orphanage's matron would keep a careful eye on her, to make sure she wasn't corrupting her peers with her presence alone, and Sakura would be forced to play dumb for weeks until the matron disregarded her as nothing but a pest.

The boy recoiled in fear, she noted with satisfaction, but he swiftly regained the ground he lost, this time with a spark of determination in his dark eyes.

Sakura nearly scowled, however, her attention was stolen by his features. This boy was painfully familiar.

His feminine, upturned shaped eyes contained coal coloured irises, which made it difficult to distinguish where his pupils were. His hair was weaved into a long braid, the tail of which was peeking at her from behind his right hip.

He revealed no hint to what his skin colour was, which bothered her most.

Was he hiding something, was he Konoha's dramatic version of Kankuro or was he extremely allergic to sunlight?

The boy's clothes covered every inch of his skin, and his face, as well as his ears and neck, were painted to somewhat resemble a kabuki mask; a very colourful kabuki mask, it was like an angry leprechaun had smashed his face into a rainbow.

She wracked her brain, trying to put a name to his face, but she drew a blank. There was no one in Konoha, who she knew, that walked around with such ostentatious face paint. In fact, she couldn't recall encountering him in the street, just by walking pass him (and she remembered strange people well enough, take Gai and Lee as an example. No one was able to forget those green spandex suits, though everyone wished they could).

Her heart was telling her that she knew him, but her heart had led her astray before.

"I'm not scared of you and I don't have to leave. I'm older than you and my kaa-chan said that people have to respect their elders, so you have to respect me," the boy told her, jutting out his chin in defiance.

Sakura didn't know whether to be impressed by his bravado or annoyed, she settled on both. "Whatever. Get lost. Go back to your kaa-chan and tou-chan and tell them that they're stupid while you're at it. Respect is earned, not given."

Her comment was met with silence; however, there were balls of tears accumulating at the edges of his eyes and she predicted that she only had a few seconds left to flee before the floodgates were opened.

Scowling, Sakura started to leave, abandoning the scene of her crime even though she knew the effort was pointless. It would only take the matron (Airy or Earring or Airi, whatever the life sucking ghoul's name was) a few moments to figure out who had made the boy cry. Sadly, her pink hair had followed her into this life as well.

"M-my k-kaa-chan's gone and I don't have a tou-san," his breath hitched. Concerned, Sakura glanced over her shoulder at him. The moment their gazes met, the dam broke and water gushed down his cheeks. If she wasn't so overwhelmed by guilt, she might have been mesmerised by his face paint's resilience to water; instead of joining his tears, as they flooded down his face, the paint became a blur of rainbow colours, reminiscent of a tie-dyed t-shirt.

Eyes were definitely trained on them now, without casting a gaze over their onlookers, she knew they were watching. Their glares made her skin itch in irritation.

"S-She d-d… s-she was o-on a mission. M-my c-cousin's t-too young and b-busy to look a-after me so I had t-to come here," the boy stuttered, pouring out his life story to her, which only twisted and buried the blade of guilt even deeper into her heart.

Goddamn it.

Not even half a decade in to this new life business and she was already making kids cry. The gods were probably thrilled with the work of their reincarnated plaything, they should have known Naruto would have been a better choice.

"Look, stop crying, just stop," Sakura walked in front of the boy waving her arms as if they were white flags. It caught the boy's attention and was enough to de-escalate him from hysterical sobbing to soft sniffling; though, judging by the growing moisture in his eyes, she needed to say something quick or else he would quickly revert.

"I'm sorry about your kaa-san," she said, only to wince at how insincere her words sounded to her own ears. She remembered what it was like, standing in his shoes, learning about her mother's death. It had been horrible, it was as if another snippet of light had gone out and she hadn't been able to breathe; not when the shadows of grief were suffocating her.

She was lucky compared to him, she had been a grown woman with years of fond memories to turn to, but he was young, and his memories of his mother would fade as the years passed.

Sakura wet her tongue and tried to console him again. "She loved you. She wouldn't want you to be crying. She would want you to be happy, so don't cry, okay? No matter what, she'll always be with you."

"How, h-how will she be with me?" the boy asked, clinging to her words with hope, as if they were a prayer.

Sakura placed her hand over her heart and pointed to his chest, where his heart was. "In your heart, you carry her with you. You are her legacy, her last footprint left on this world, so you have to honour her by being happy and doing your best at things."

The boy furrowed his eyebrows and mimicked her action by placing a hand over his heart. "I don't… I mean, I-I think I get what you're saying."

Sakura rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, it was either that or she would be banging her head against the tree. She was talking to this kid as if he was an adult.

The boy sighed, using the back of his hand to wipe his eyes. Again, his face paint surprised her by staying in place. "Sorry, I need to stop crying. I c-can't be a big baby anymore."

"Everyone cries."

"Even the hokage?"

Sakura paused and thought of a broken blonde, who had wept into a bottle of sake after learning of her teammate and friend's death. For the first time Sakura had known her, Tsunade had looked too small, too delicate, too frail to be swallowed by the weight of her hokage robes.

"Yes, even hokage's cry."

The boy smiled at her words and, obviously emboldened by her show of kindness, stepped forward, tossed his scrap book aside and wrapped his arms around her.

Sakura's brain froze, it was too flabbergasted to compute his actions. His next words finally kicked her neurons into action. "You're my best friend."

Flailing her arms around like a mad woman, Sakura attempted to wriggle out of his grasp. She could hit the kid but dealing with her guilt and his tears was something she didn't want to do again. "Oi, get off! Has no one taught you stranger danger?"

"You're not a stranger though, you're my best friend."

"Cut it out and stop saying that. You're being weird."

"But best friends hug each other!"

"We can't be friends, let alone best friends, if I don't know your name, stupid!"

The boy finally released her, and she was quick to put a decent amount of distance between the two of them, just in case he tried his luck again.

"You're right. I'm Mareo Kamizuki, what's your name?" the boy, Mareo, asked, with bright eyes. If someone looked at him now, they wouldn't be able to tell that a few minutes ago he was trying to flood the planet with his tears.

His skin was glowing as he radiated joy. The abrupt change in his emotions was causing major whiplash for her. Did he have the attention span of a goldfish? She had made him cry not too long ago, shouldn't that emphasise that she was not qualified to be his friend?

"Sakura H-… Sakura Uzumaki," it still felt wrong for her to use Naruto's surname. However, she hoped her name would ring alarm bells in the boy's brain. There was no doubt that he, alike all the other children, was warned to stay away from her.

Sadly, she guessed wrong because he appeared almost nonchalant after hearing her name. No, actually, she lied. In fact, he seemed happier than he was before, which shouldn't have been humanly possible.

"Great, we're best friends now."

Sakura gaped at him and wondered if his head was hollow. "No, we aren't. I don't have friends."

"Now you do," Mareo chirped, giving her a toothy grin.

Sakura was at a loss for words.

She had everything planned out and strength and chakra control were on the top of her priority list, creating a social network had been put on the back burner; making friends with strangers, despite how familiar they looked, was not on the plan at all.

Friendship wasn't a plan. She was going to be an agent of the shadows (yes, she was well aware of how corny that sounded).

Besides, she didn't know if she could emotionally and mentally handle being connected to another being. He wouldn't be another nameless Konoha citizen's face that she protected due to duty and her moral code, she would soon unravel the soul behind it.

One lesson life had taught her well was that losing the people she cared about excavated her insides.

No, she was not going to form any bonds. She'd defend Konoha and defeat all of those who dared to threaten her precious people, all while being alone.

Solitude was going to be her friend, not some random scamp.

"No, we're not friends, stupid," she hissed, trying to resort to the intimidation tactics she had used on him in the beginning. She stomped towards, fists curled at her sides and her shoulder's stiff, hoping he would back away.

Yet, he was full of surprises, as stepped closer to her. He was a full head taller than her, which made her feel like a spitting domestic cat trying to threaten a lion. "Don't be shy. You're my first best friend too. I haven't had a friend either, but now we have each other and we can play."

Sakura fought the urge to massage her temples in frustration. Mareo was annoyingly unflappable and the smile on his face wasn't even there to mock her at all, it was disturbingly real; the damn kid was bizarre.

"I can teach you how to tree walk," Mareo offered softly.

Sakura's eyes widened in surprised. "You know how to tree walk? B-but you're just a kid!"

Mareo rolled his eyes. "You're just a kid too and you're trying to learn. Anyways, my kaa-chan showed me how to. I can even walk on water, cool right?"

Sakura folded her arms across her chest and gave him a look of disbelief. "You're lying. You're not going to trick me into hanging out with you, weirdo."

Mareo frowned and then marched towards the tree. Without sparing her another glance, he casually walked up the oak tree until he reached a thick branch that he was able to sit on.

With his legs dangling in the air and a goofy smile stretched across his face, Mareo exclaimed, "does it look like I'm lying now?"

Sakura's jaw was nearly unhinged. The boy had to be five or six, since he was older than her, and he was walking up trees as if it was easy as breathing. Such early displays of skill in children wasn't new, there were people like Itachi and Kakashi in the world after all. However, kid prodigies tended to pop out of the woodworks during times of war, where villages essentially ripped children out of their mother's arms and taught them how to kill.

Kakashi's words rang in her ears, "there are some people out there that are younger than me and stronger than me."

"Want to learn?" Mareo asked.

Sakura swiftly nodded.

Sure, it was humiliating to have a kid teach her, but her pride wasn't important anymore. Anyways, she was the only one who knew that she was technically an adult being taught by a child.

Mareo kicked his feet in excitement. "Okay, cool. Wait, you have to admit you're my best friend first."

There was a catch. Of course, there was always a catch.

Although, how could she be truly mad at the boy's cunning wits. She studied him again, searching for any little hints that revealed why he was so familiar to her. With his skill at this age, he had to have lived long enough to have a successful shinobi career; where had she met him?

"Fine, we're best friends," she replied, deciding to let Mareo have his little victory. The moment she had pried away all the knowledge and skills he had to offer, she'd drop him like he was yesterday's news.

* * *

"My kaa-chan said that a billion pieces of paper comes from a single, big tree. You've wasted a lot of paper, Sakura-chan."

"Shut up, it's Sakura to you and do you know what I think?"

"What?"

"That every time you annoy me, you waste precious oxygen."

"What's oxygen?"

"It's in air, stupid."

"In my ear? What do you mean?"

"No, air! As in wind or, you know what, never mind."

"So… if I break wind… you know, fart, I will be making more air? Doesn't that mean if I fart, I'll make up for all the air that I've wasted?"

"…You're an imbecile."

* * *

 ** _"To advance into the unknown, you must_**  
 ** _risk the peril of all your_**  
 ** _previous beliefs and emotions_**  
 ** _that feel so secure [3]."_**

Bent over her knees, with her hands on her thighs, Sakura hungrily sucked in air. It was as if she had completed a strenuous work out; her muscles were twitching and trembling beneath her skin, and her lungs were starving to the point they throbbed.

Chakra exhaustion, she was nearing bloody chakra exhaustion.

Sakura straightened her spine, her bones made a cracking sound in the process, and she studied the tree in front of her. The sun was nearly burnt out and heading to bed, but the last strings of light highlighted the two, tiny feet shaped dents in the tree's flesh, which were at least 30ft above ground.

She wanted to leap up in the air and release a victory roar, however, she decided against it. It felt like the earth was moving but it was still; her feet were jelly, wobbling unsteady on the ground they stood. If she jumped, she wasn't landing gracefully.

Littered on the forest floor surrounding her were fallen carcasses of trees, each tree marking her numerous failed attempts. Or, as Mareo loved to say, each tree represented the extreme amount of paper she had wasted.

But that didn't matter anymore, she was nearly there.

Sakura wouldn't have been able to restrain the smile that stretched across her face even if she tried. All the work she had put in, all of the annoying stories that Mareo had forced her listen to, all of the pain, all of the lack of sleep and all of the pounding headaches caused by chakra exhaustion; all of it had been worth it for this moment.

Excitement thrummed through her heart and spread across her body through her blood vessels, just as she mentally envisioned all she was able to do now.

Any medical ninjutsu had to wait until she was more precise with her chakra, unless she wanted to fry the insides of herself and others, however, using chakra infused strength to shatter the earth was reachable. In fact, she was tickling it with the tips of her fingers.

Contrary to popular belief, crumbling mountains with a single touch wasn't unattainable by those without perfect chakra control. In fact, shattering the earth was the easiest thing to do.

People accidentally destroyed trees and left the earth covered with mini craters because they lost control of their chakra, by flaring it, and caused an explosion. Tsunade, and later Sakura, did the exact same thing, just with intent.

Lifting things with chakra infused strength was going to be the toughest challenge, as it combined perfect chakra control and medical ninjutsu; humans, with a rush of adrenaline, can do the impossible. The way Tsunade manipulated her body and chakra to lift things was by taking advantage of her hormones; specifically, the release of the hormone epinephrine, produced by the adrenal glands.

People never understood just how intelligent Tsunade was, they knew she was strong and a capable healer, but they took for granted the thought process that went behind every technique Tsunade had conceptualised and created.

Tsunade knew how to safely push the human body to its limit and she knew how to return the human body to homeostasis, all in a matter of seconds.

It was a delicate balance that relied on control.

Sakura grimaced, she had yet to learn true control over her new chakra and body. This new life was a whole new ball game, but she was trying.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, I've brought dinner!" Mareo exclaimed, rushing towards her with two bento boxes. Sakura sighed, relieved for the distraction from her thoughts.

She was surprised to see quality rice balls inside the containers, instead of the slush the orphanage served. Her suspicion must have been pulpable by her expression because Mareo was quick to explain, "this scary, mummy looking man bought me and a few others lunch. I asked for lunch for you too."

Sakura sniffed the food cautiously and then hesitantly took a bite. Immediately after, her eyes nearly rolled to the back of her head, and her taste buds danced and sang hallelujah. It was delicious! (Or maybe orphanage food made everything taste great in comparison).

"Itadakimasu," Mareo said softly, before he started eating.

Sakura scarfed down the food, barely giving any time to chew, while Mareo watched, wide eyed. Sakura wanted to laugh at his disgusted expression, there was no time for manners or grace, not when her stomach was prepared to start a civil war if she didn't hurry up and feed it.

"Sow, whash dit thash doo wansh?" Sakura asked, with her mouth filled to the point that she looked like a squirrel that was hoarding acorns in its cheeks.

Mareo flinched as a grain of rice fled her lips and hit his chin. "Yuck, Sakura-chan. Um, we were doing tests and stuff for entrance to the academy. He was super impressed by taijutsu and my aim with weapons, so I'm glad you showed me your tricks."

Sakura frowned and swallowed the food in her mouth with a single gulp; Mareo cringed at the action. A test for entrance to the academy? She had never heard of such a thing. If there was one, her former child self would never had made it into the academy.

"That test doesn't exist," she retorted, narrowing her eyes at him. Was he trying to deceive her and, if he was, why was he trying to pull the wool over her eyes?

Mareo frowned. "How do you know the academy doesn't have an entrance test?"

Sakura was stumped at that, she couldn't exactly blurt out that she had been to the academy before and knew the entrance process. Firstly, she'd sound insane, and secondly, she was never letting this cat out of the bag; no one was going to learn that this was her second life because absolute power corrupted absolutely and she firmly believed that knowledge was power; this knowledge, in the wrong hands, could have catastrophic consequences.

No, she had to do this alone.

She knew too much; though, admittedly, she had also been left in the dark over some events. Naruto never went into detail over everything with her, the same with Kakashi.

Sakura sighed and chose to voice what she was originally concerned about. "Did you really do a test or were you doing something else and don't want to tell me?"

"I was doing a test," Mareo replied firmly, keeping eye contact with her. "I'll tell you what we did to prove it. We did a kunai test, a shuriken test, we had a spar match, we did a written exam and I showed the mummy man that I could walk up trees and on water. Oh, and he's visiting me and some others tonight-"

"Okay, okay," Sakura interrupted softly. "I believe you."

Mareo grinned. "Good, best friends don't lie to each other."

Sakura scowled and tossed her empty bento container at his feet. "For the last time, we aren't best friends, idiot."

Mareo laughed, as if she had told him a hilarious joke. "Yes, we are. We have sleepovers-"

"You moved into my room, without my permission."

"We play together-"

"It's called training, moron."

"We always hang out-"

"Because we both live at the orphanage and you won't leave me alone."

"We bathe together-"

Sakura's face went bright red as she exploded. "That was one time and that was your fault, pervert! Next time, I'll punch you all the way to Suna, shannaro!"

"And," Mareo continued, remaining blasé in the face of her accusations, "we'd do anything for each other. We'll look after each other and be best friends forever."

Mareo then reached forward and caught her wrist.

Too tired to protest, since nothing got through Mareo's thick skull, Sakura allowed him to slip a bracelet onto her arm. It was a simple black bracelet, reminding her of a cloth headband, and painted on the bracelet, in kanji, were the words, 'best friend.'

Sakura pulled her arm away from him and rubbed her forehead. This boy never gave up. He clung to her and she couldn't shake him off. Sasuke must have felt this way with Naruto. No matter how many terrible acts Sasuke committed, Naruto had been determined to follow him to the end of the earth; instead, following Sasuke had led Naruto to an early grave.

Sakura's heart throbbed, and she backed away from Mareo. Despite his frivolous face paint, which he incredulously slept in, and the annoying tendency he had with tackling her into hugs, Sakura couldn't help but care about him.

He wouldn't let her be. Every time she tried to shrink into the shadows, he was hauling her out.

He was too kind and too innocent for the orphanage and for her.

"It's not much. I know. I painted on it to make it better," Mareo explained, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. The action was all too familiar. In the place of dark eyes, she saw cerulean blue and long, braided hair became short, spiky and blonde, which filled her with panic; was the reason she thought he was so familiar because he was Naruto?

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?"

 _Sakura-chan._

 _Sakura-chan._

 _Sakura-chan._

The name echoed in her head, the voice chanting her name wasn't hers, it wasn't Mareo's, it was… it was…

Sakura turned on her heel and ran, not paying any heed to Mareo's frantic shouts. She needed answers and there was only one place to find them.

* * *

"I… I can't go with you, sir. I can't leave my best friend."

"Don't you want to get strong enough to be able to protect your best friend?"

"Yes, of course!"

"Then let's go, the others are waiting."

"No, no! Not without talking to Sakura-chan!"

* * *

 ** _"Nothing gold can stay [4]."_**

As expected, the spare key was under the flowerpot next to the back step. She wandered inside and grew unsure because the house was quiet and dark.

With muted footsteps, aided by carpet lined floors, she crept through the hallway of the house with ease. She knew this place so well she could navigate the rooms with her eyes closed.

In the living room, she passed her former father. He was sprawled out on the couch, sandwiched between cushions and two take-out boxes. There was a blanket bundled up on top of his feet, so Sakura pulled it over to cover him.

She wanted to fondly push the stray lock of hair away from his face but was frightened he would awaken. Her parents had never taken too kindly to her being placed in Naruto's team, it took Naruto defeating Nagato for her parents to warm to him.

Seeing the jinchuriki in his living room, standing in front of him, would not impress Kizashi in the slightest.

Although, it was so odd to see him sleeping there. Worry emerged in the recess of her mind, but she brushed it off. Maybe her former parents had a little tiff and Kizashi went out to have a few drinks with his buddies. That had happened a few times in her childhood and Mebuki usually left her husband in his sorry state to teach him a lesson.

Sakura grinned wickedly, there was no doubt in her mind that Mebuki would be up early in the morning, causing a ruckus in order to torture her hungover husband.

Sakura climbed the stairs, on instinct she avoided the ones which squeaked, and went to her old bedroom. If she was born as this world's Naruto, then Naruto would have been born as this world's Sakura.

Sakura covered her mouth, muffling her snicker, as she imagined the colour of her teammate's hair in this life. Kizashi's grandmother had hot pink hair, she hoped Naruto had inherited it.

She paused, taking a few seconds to gather herself before she touched the door handle. It was weird not seeing cherry blossom stickers splattered all over the door (Ino had given them to her on her ninth birthday, so she shouldn't be surprised that they weren't there) but she pushed that thought aside and twisted the door knob.

A gasp escaped her lips.

The room was bare, except for a collection of candles and two photo frames sitting on an altar of sorts. She realised it was a memorial as she travelled towards the items to get a closer look. The photographs were black and white; one contained a tiny blob in the middle and the other showed the body of an unborn child.

These were sonograms. As she stood before the altar, she noticed an inscription carved into the word. With nervous trepidation, she read a few words displayed; ' _our beloved angel, Sakura Haruno, who was stillborn on the-'_

Stillborn?

Kizashi and Mebuki's child had died?

And, that child had been Sakura Haruno, not Naruto Haruno?

"No," Sakura muttered, backing away from the memorial with fearful eyes. "No, no, no, no, no, it wasn't meant to be like this."

There was meant to be a small blue bed with hideously bright orange sheets and blankets. A frog print pillow was meant to be on the bed, with unruly pink spikes resting on it.

And…

And…

Naruto, cursed with obnoxious hair like hers, was supposed to curled up under the blankets, suckling his thumb like a baby, which he had always done when he slept (even when he was sixteen!).

Walking into this room was meant to be impossible, she should've have been forced to dodge building blocks, marbles and toys as if this room was a mine field. Badly scribbled artwork was meant to be proudly pinned to the walls, along with cheesy images that captured little Naruto's childhood milestones.

Everything was wrong.

It was too early in the night for the house to be dark and quiet. Mebuki should be busy in the kitchen, preparing snacks and lunch for her son to eat while slapping her husband's sneaky hands away from the food and Kizashi should be scrubbing dishes, cracking typical dad jokes and attempting to snatch one rice ball to stuff in his gob.

Sakura's heart squeezed in her chest. In the end, Naruto had been betrayed by both his original teammates. Sasuke killed him in one life and she murdered him in the next.

* * *

 ** _"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,_**

 ** _And sorry I could not travel both_**

 ** _And be one traveler, long I stood_**

 ** _And looked down one as far as I could [5]."_**

High-pitched shrieks greeted her as she flung herself through an opened window. Children, clasping their thundering hearts, followed her with their eyes.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Do you reckon it's because-"

"No, she wasn't here. She won't know."

While stumbling down the hallway, dragging her hand across the wall for stability, she realised she resembled a drunkard returning from a binge.

Kami, she wished she was drunk.

She would make her way to the end of every sake bottle in Konoha if she could. She'd do anything, _anything,_ to medicate away the chaos in her head.

Naruto was gone. Scratch that, Naruto didn't exist anymore.

A primal shriek escaped her lips as she punched the wall.

She didn't care that the other children were judging her and whispering behind her back. She didn't care that her mask was broken by cascading tears or that her breath kept catching in her throat.

She looked a mess.

She was a mess.

A stumbling, pathetic, life-stealing, traitor of a mess.

Her eyes burned some more, and her guilt created a dam in her throat, making it hard for her to swallow.

There was no Naruto Haruno. There was no Haruno child.

Sakura buried her free hand in her hair and _pulled._ She welcomed the pain throbbing in her scalp, in fact, she relished it. She wanted to feel anything other than what she was feeling.

Naruto was her anchor. Naruto was everyone's anchor. When she started to drift away, he pulled her back.

Kami, there were so many analogies she had for Naruto. He was a lighthouse, a cup of hot chocolate on a cold day, the sun to her moon…

Naruto wasn't perfect, he wasn't an innocent saint, but he embodied everything good in her world. He gave her hope.

Sakura choked out a sob.

She had stolen his life. There was no trade off and they had not switched places. She had annihilated his existence.

Waves of anguish washed over her, one after the other, dragging her to depths of despair.

She had killed him.

Sakura clambered to her room, nearly tripping over her own two feet. She needed to be alone, hopefully Mareo would understand.

A small part of her held hope that Mareo was Naruto.

The boy was a ray of sunshine himself, maybe he was Naruto. Maybe Naruto wore new skin too.

The sight of her room ended her hysterical tears. It was in total disarray, almost as if a tornado had been let loose in it. The drawers were opened with clothes hanging on the edge. Mareo's blankets hid the floor and his mattress had been flung to her side of the room.

The curtains were ripped from their teeth, exposing the room to the outside world.

Something had happened. Mareo was too much of an organised clean freak to leave her room (she called it her room because, goddamn it, she was never going to confess it was their room) in disorder.

There must have been a struggle.

Someone had hurt Mareo.

 _"_ _We'd do anything for each other. We'll look after each other and be best friends forever."_

Sakura's mind snapped.

No longer was she drowning in the undertow of a cluster of messy emotions.

She only felt one emotion keenly; anger.

He was right, he was always right. She would do anything for him. That irritating cretin had burrowed beneath her walls and made himself a home. He had achieved the impossible, he had proven life could still exist in her heart that she had believed was barren.

Waking up without purpose and doing mundane day to day activities became unbearable when there was no one to exist for. Yet, in a matter of weeks, Mareo had made every day she lived meaningful.

He had ruined everything. He had ruined her plans.

She knew she could let this go, but she couldn't stomach the idea of disappointing or upsetting him. Wherever the orphanage had moved him to, whatever the orphanage children had done, that didn't matter to her, not as much as knowing he was waiting for her.

"Where is Mareo?" she exclaimed, spinning around to face the small crowd of children that had gathered to witness her misery. They all ducked their heads, avoiding her piercing gaze.

Snarling, Sakura shoved the nearest child into the wall and wrapped her hand around the column of his throat. She had no patience to waste on their games. "Where is Mareo?"

The boy whimpered and helplessly pawed at her hands, trying to free himself. She could almost smell his fear. "I-I d-don't know, I-I swear!"

She tightened her hold on his neck and watched as a shade of red climbed his neck and face. Her conscience was screaming at her and berating her for harming a child, but she was too furious to listen.

This day had continued to overwhelm her with a constant onslaught of emotions and she was sick and tired of it all. To hell with consequences, no matter what she did people were hurt. Naruto was gone. She couldn't do anything to change that, even though she desperately wanted to.

Everything was spiralling out of her control but getting to Mareo wasn't.

She owed him.

He would never leave her room willingly, which explained why the room was in such a messy state. She knew that he wouldn't leave from experience; no matter how many times she threw him and his stuff out, he had weaselled his gear and himself back in.

These kids had to know something.

Sakura's eyes narrowed, had they really hurt him?

"Let him go!" an older girl exclaimed, rushing towards her.

Effortlessly, Sakura grabbed the cuff of the girl's shirt and used her own momentum to throw her to the ground. With one hand still squeezing the life out of her first victim, Sakura twisted her body and brought her leg down onto her other victim's stomach.

The girl exhaled sharply and cried out in pain.

Wide-eyed, the other children backed away. Satisfied that no other idiot would attempt to charge at her, Sakura returned her attention to the boy in her grasp.

"Where is Mareo?" Sakura roared, smashing the boy against the wall again. His head jostled back and forth, and Sakura fought down a callous grin; good, she hoped that knocked some sense into him.

All she wanted was answers.

The boy's green eyes welled with tears. "I… c-can't… b-b-"

"The elder with the bandages adopted Mareo and a few others," Sakura dropped her victim and spun around to face the person who had finally answered her question. Another boy, kneeling beside the girl on the ground, glared at her with hated filled eyes. "It's not our fault, leave us alone."

Ignoring the girl's trembling shoulders or the desperate gasps for air her choke victim made, Sakura strode towards the one who answered her, intent on finding out more. "Tell me everything that happened."

And he did.

Danzo _, freaking,_ Shimura had adopted Mareo and five others.

Sakura was perplexed. That didn't make sense. In her time, Danzo had no children around her age (adopted or not). They had to be lying. They had to be offering anything they could think of, just so they could spare themselves from her wrath.

Lips curling into sneer, Sakura tossed the boy, who answered her, to the floor. "Do you think you can get away with lying to me?"

"I'm not lying. It was the same guy who took them for that test," the boy responded, pushing himself up onto his hands and knees.

Test? Sakura lifted a hand to her head and frowned. Mareo had mentioned a test, hadn't he?

Suddenly, she heard Mareo's words loud and clear.

 _"This scary, mummy looking man bought me and a few others lunch. I asked for lunch for you too."_

 _"…we were doing tests and stuff for entrance to the academy. He was super impressed by taijutsu and my aim with weapons, so I'm glad you showed me your tricks."_

 _"…he's visiting me and some others tonight-"_

A heavy feeling settled in her gut and she tripped backwards, landing on her behind. ROOT, Danzo led ROOT, the secret organisation that trained children into emotionless shinobi.

Mareo had been recruited to Root, judging by the massacre of her bedroom, he had been recruited unwillingly.

Danzo had kidnapped Mareo.

Kami, her hands were trembling; how was she going to save Mareo from Danzo?

The man had sharingan implanted in his body, coupled with the DNA of Hashirama Senju.

She had to save Mareo, but how?

Sakura gripped her hair and shook her head, struggling to come to terms with everything. It was all too much. One more problem and she was going to combust.

She couldn't leave Mareo in his clutches. She refused to let Danzo drain the spark away from those dark eyes. She needed to free him, but how?

Kami, she wished Sai was here. He knew the ins and outs of ROOT.

Maybe Mareo left her a clue in her bedroom. Sakura raced there on shaky legs, ignoring the light and woozy sensation her head suffered from moving too fast. She peeled blankets away from the floor and shook them, hoping any note that might be tucked into the fabric would fall out.

There had to be something, anything.

"What's going on here?"

"M-Matron Eri, S-Sakura hurt Jin, Ayame and Daichi-"

Sakura slammed her door shut to drown out the noise from within the hall and continued to search for any clue or any hint; she'd deal with her punishment later. The only scraps or pieces of paper she had found were filled with Mareo's drawings.

Her eyes watered, Mareo was a great artist for his age; he should be at civilian school, studying art. She should have told him not to attend the academy, he loved drawing and he was kind; a life lived as a poor painter would serve him better than a life lived as a mindless weapon wielded by a corrupt man.

If Mareo wasn't nagging her, he spent his time sweeping a pencil or brush across blank pages, creating life out of nothing but lead or ink. For some bizarre reason, he loved drawing her too.

Every artwork featuring her had to have a cherry blossom tree in the background, or he drew her being showered in cherry blossom petals.

He was obsessed with her name and hair, just like Sai had been.

Sakura's movements halted and the wheels in her head rapidly spun.

Those upturned eyes lined with long, feathery lashes, which were too pretty to rightfully belong to a boy, were just like Sai's. Coal filled irises, nearly darker than the sky at midnight, that shone with warmth and earnest joy were just like Sai's.

Those eyes of his had plagued her mind for weeks because she knew those eyes. She knew them. She knew him.

Sakura's stomach lurched.

Mareo wasn't a reincarnated Naruto.

Mareo was Sai.

* * *

 **[1] "Stopping by the woods," by Robert Frost (which you can check out with this link:** **poems/42891/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening** **).**

 **[2] "Alone," written by Edgar Allan Poe (which you can check out with this link: poems/46477/alone-56d2265f2667d).**

 **[3] "Failure," by Tim Connor (which you can check out with this link: poems/failure-tim-connor-poem/).**

 **[4] "Nothing gold can stay," by Robert Frost (which you can check out with this link:** **poetsorg/poem/nothing-gold-can-stay).**

 **[5] "The road not taken," by Robert Frost (which you can check out with this link: poems/44272/the-road-not-taken).**

 **I decided to post a long chapter because I am going to have little time to write in the next couple of weeks. I squashed all these events into one chapter because I needed these things to happen so that I can move the story along (to help with future plot). I have no editor of sorts and, I solemnly confess, I rushed this chapter. So, there will be errors. I wanted to put something up before I was too busy to. Also, writing really isn't my niche. Honestly, I just vomited words onto the screen and then posted it. Did that give you nice visuals?**

 **At a later date, I will comb through and fix my mistakes in the chapters I have posted.**

 **Author discussion about Mareo:**

 **Mareo is not like canon Sai because this is my version of Sai pre-Root. He hasn't been trained to lose his emotions yet.**

 **I chose the name Mareo because it means uncommon and rare. Mareo/Sai was going to be around for a while, but, for the sake of my plot, he went as soon as he arrived.**

 **Forgive Sakura for not figuring this out. It's not her fault, it's technically my fault. Sakura thinks she knows what she must be done and is too focused on preventing events in the future by becoming strong, which means she isn't paying attention to the present.**

 **This is a life lesson for my readers, live in the moment or else the person who you don't want to admit is your best friend will be abducted and trained into an emotionless shinobi by Danzo. Don't come crying to me if this happens, you've been warned, and I'll just say, "I told you so."**

 **Author discussion about Sakura**

 **I don't want Sakura to be super strong and talented with her chakra straight away. Sure, she knows how to everything, but knowing something and being able to do something is completely different. If you get my drift.**

 **Besides, she has a new body and new chakra to adapt to. That's why I wrote it took her three weeks to learn how to tree walk.**

 **Don't worry, she will regain her previous skillset (that's inevitable), but she has a lot to learn too.**

 **Another author discussion about Sakura (more or less details about the effect her existence as Sakura Uzumaki has on the Haruno household).**

 **Now, one reviewer wondered if Naruto and Sakura had traded places. Originally, I had planned that, but I scrapped it.**

 **Since I'm not going to explore or explain this in the story, I will in this author note. Mebuki gave birth prematurely to a stillborn Sakura Haruno at the same time Kushina conceived Sakura Uzumaki. There are many theories about souls in real life. For the purpose of my story, when Sakura Haruno's soul left to be 'contained' within Sakura Uzumaki's body, the body she departed died.**

 **I hope that makes sense?**

 **By the way, can you see how the last Robert Frost quote relates to Sakura's journey? I nearly made that one quote the description for this story. I bet you can guess which poet our class focused on in our last lesson.**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading.**


	3. The cost of past bonds

**Hello!**

 **I know, long time no see. Sorry, life got in the way and I have been crazy busy. This is my side, stress-relief, project and I have barely had the time to truly unwind.**

 **But, I'm back!**

 **Thank you so much for your reviews and your patience. I must warn you that I will take a while to update again because school, work and sports has been hectic. Also, writing and grammar is my kryptonite, so please forgive me if you spot any eyesores.**

 **Admittedly, this chapter was rushed between tasks, so… sorry in advance?**

 **Anyways, may the slaughter of Kishimoto's work continue! (This time without poetry references because our class has switched to the analysing The Great Gatsby.)**

* * *

It had been second nature.

Her new body, though small and short, had submerged into combat mode with ease. Fluid movements, bluntly performed without a flair of grace, had burnt out a good litre of the rage that filled her.

Fists, feet, elbows, knees and even teeth were her weapons of choice. It was oddly therapeutic, shoving faces into the earth, smashing heads together and burying her fists into their flesh.

Many would frown upon her tactics, but she was not above playing dirty. Honour had no place in battle, not anymore.

Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance. She could feel the distinct hum of chakra in the air, wavering in the treetops. Her moves were being watched, she could only guess by who; Danzo's men.

Sakura peeled her lips back and formed a snarl. She almost wished that Danzo would appear in the clearing, but she wasn't foolish enough to believe that she was capable of outwitting that sly bastard; more work needed to be put in.

"Focus on the things you can control, not on the things you can't," a familiar voice whispered in her mind and Sakura clung to her best friend's voice; allowing the familiar feminine tone to hold her back from doing something stupid.

Kami, she missed Ino.

Her eyes started to sting, and sorrow started to bubble up her throat, so she focused on her anger and the children in front of her because she wasn't ready to face those emotions yet. She couldn't break, not when Sai, the love of Ino's life, needed her.

She'd do right by Sai and, in doing so, she'd being doing right by Ino. (And maybe, hopefully, that would be enough to remove the haunting stench of Ino's blood from her memory).

With their limbs twisted and tangled together, the pile of children groaned and wept at her feet. The liquid courage that had cast a shimmery glow over their eyes had been drained away and a solemn acceptance of defeat filled the vacancy.

Sakura revelled in their agony.

How dare they come after her, like villagers with torches and pitchforks trying to chase away a beast, and condemn her for beating their friends when they had sat back and let Sai be taken away?

The entire orphanage could go up in flames and she wouldn't bat an eyelash; in fact, she would add fuel to encourage the flames to feed on those walls. The children were morons, blindly believing that their friends had been "adopted" by a nice elder and the caretakers, they were all in on that gig; matron Airi had been so nonchalant when Sakura had screamed and sobbed about Sai being kidnaped.

The only wrong that bitter, pruned face shrew saw was the three kids that she had injured in the hallway; beating kids was a bad thing, she understood that, but kidnapping young kids and moulding them into empty weapons was a thousand times worse; to her only, it seemed, since matron Airi brushed away that allegation and instead shoved her into seclusion.

Three days, Sakura had spent in a dark, cold room with only the drip drop of water to keep her tied to sanity.

Three days spent, knowing that the trail to Sai was becoming ice cold.

Three days of tears and pleas; of praying that she would close her eyes and awaken to find Sai sitting on his bed, permanently capturing a single moment of time with paint.

Three days of angry fists bleeding their knuckles against the wall.

But, at least, she was released on the fourth day. She had been fortunate enough to escape her cage, Sai was still contained in his.

Sakura scowled and dug her nails into her palms, leaving crescent moon shaped indents in her skin. She would find him. She wouldn't rest until she did.

If she had to choke the truth out of Airi's mouth, she would. She would gladly watch those thin, cracked lips turn blue.

She just needed to find her.

Since she had left seclusion, that woman had been elusive.

"Sakura."

Sakura stiffened and every hair on her neck stood. That voice, it couldn't be?

"Rabbit, Hawk and Frog, please escort the injured to the hospital."

It had to be him.

Sakura was torn.

One part of her was relieved that he was there because, in her previous childhood, when he had reigned, everything seemed peaceful; there was no war and Akatsuki was a mysterious group that hadn't yet laid their eyes upon Konoha.

However, another part of her was furious because he knew. He knew where Sai was being kept and yet he did nothing. Danzo and Orochimaru were an infection, festering into something life threatening and Hiruzen just sat back, holding a bottle of antibiotics in his hands, doing nothing but watching.

So many lives would be saved if he did what he was supposed to do; protect the village, but, instead, Hiruzen protected his friend and student.

He clung too tightly to his bonds, it would be his fatal flaw; as it had been Naruto's and hers. (If she hadn't hesitated, if she had just plunged her chakra enthused fist into his chest, Ino would have lived).

One by one, the children were whipped away. The ANBU agents worked fast, they were only mere flicks of black, darting in and out.

A stare burned her back, but she faced forward.

Even when the clearing only contained the two of them, she avoided acknowledging his presence.

She was too conflicted, and her emotions were too raw. If she lost her cool, she knew there would be consequences; she just didn't know what the repercussions would be.

Would he withhold her entrance to the academy?

Would he warn Danzo?

Would Sai never surface?

Kami, she couldn't bear the thought of failing Sai, of letting down another one of her precious people because of her tunnel vision.

She heard the bottom of his robes scrape along the grass; the noise grew louder and louder as he came closer.

When he reached her side, her nose picked up a thick scent of tobacco. It was definitely him. "Hello Sakura, my name is Hiruzen Sarutobi. I'm the hokage."

Sakura rolled her eyes, was this really the way he was going to start this charade?

Introduce himself, probably be all grandfatherly and then launch into his lecture.

She wouldn't fall for his trap. She refused to be fooled by the pretence that he was a grandfatherly man who loved every child. If that was ever true, why was Jiraiya trailing after Orochimaru like a lost puppy instead of a team of ANBU agents, specifically trained in assassination. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of children have died by Orchimaru's hands.

Danzo was just as bad and yet he filled a position that held him above reproach. To add to the circus called Hiruzen's administration, his teammates were the elders on the council.

All of it was corrupt, the entire system was marinating in the stale views of the old; those whose judgement was clouded by former prejudices, as their campaign against the Uchiha proved; Sasuke had learnt that the Kyuubi attack had only aided the elders in alienating the other clans from the Uchiha; consequently, their actions had alienated the last surviving Uchiha and the entire shinobi world had paid the price.

The leader of the village was a puppet controlled by his bonds and his council was making decisions that benefited their personal agendas. It was a miracle that the other villages couldn't see the cracks in Konoha's façade; the perfect village wasn't perfect at all.

Sakura grimaced as her thoughts drifted to Naruto. Within his cerulean eyes, there had been a hope for a better world and she had believed that he could lead them towards that destination, but sometimes she questioned if he had the guts to make the hard decisions.

Naruto refused to kill Sasuke, just as she had.

The two of them, Kakashi as well, were not able to separate the Sasuke that had been their teammate, from the man that Sasuke had become. If Naruto had lived and became hokage, would he be just another Hiruzen when the world really needed another Hashirama?

Naruto had bet his life on a tie and he had lost.

It pained her to acknowledge it, but Naruto had been destined to die the very moment Sasuke turned his back away from them. Naruto was too blinded by his love for his brother to see the monstrous hate that had consumed and transformed their former teammate into someone unrecognisable.

Sasuke had been worlds away from their reach and it took dying for Sakura to truly accept that; she had an instinctive feeling that, even in death, Naruto had still fostered hope for the last Uchiha.

"There were at least fifteen children and you beat them all."

His words shocked her out of her thoughts, she had forgotten Hiruzen was there.

"Just because you can, Sakura, doesn't mean you should."

Sakura scowled and sent him a dirty look. She understood where he was coming from, but she despised his words nonetheless.

She was great at not acting when she could have. She had years of experience of doing that.

However, she had learnt the hard way that inaction was worse than action. She realised that attacking children wasn't in any form conducive but hearing Hiruzen encourage her to not act made her boiling mad.

He could have stopped Orochimaru, yet he had chosen not to.

He could have stopped Danzo, yet he had chosen not to.

He could have saved children like Sai, yet he had chosen not to.

"Take your advice yourself, old man," Sakura snapped, allowing her anger to get the best of her. "Just because you can talk, doesn't mean you should."

Those umber coloured eyes, sunken into shrivelled up, age spot marked skin reminded her of a trunk of an oak tree; they were warm and lively, and years of experience were hidden in layers behind them. She remembered finding a sense of safety in those orbs, all those years ago; now, she only saw Sai's emotionless face, wielding a weird smile that lacked the radiance of Mareo's grins.

Hiruzen wheezed out a guttural laugh and the noise grated on Sakura's nerves, so she snapped. "Spit out what you want to say, old man. Quit the small talk and get to business."

Immediately, he fell silent and the crow marks faded from the corner of his eyes.

Sakura nearly winced; her short temper had always been hard to reign in. However, she held her head high and maintained her fierce glare. If she were to be punished, so be it. She was too tired and weary from stressful experiences of two lives to care about the punishments he could inflict on her.

If Inoichi raped her mind, so be it. Let them have the knowledge of the future so that they were the pawns forced to change the game.

"Follow me," he said, after a long pause of silence.

Wordlessly, she obeyed.

She walked alongside him, ignoring the gawks and glares she received from their civilian witnesses, until their feet had led them to the top of the Hokage Monument. (When it became clear that she wasn't being led to a jail cell, or worse the torture and interrogation unit, her sporadic heartbeat settled slightly).

With his hokage robes dramatically flowing behind him like a cape, the sandaime cast a fond gaze over their village and didn't spare a single moment before asking. "What do you see when you look down there, Sakura-san?"

Sakura gawked, it took her brain a while to digest his words.

Had he really dragged her up here for a philosophical speech? She nearly snorted out a bitter laugh. He was a coward, purposely changing the tide of their conversation to avoid conflict.

She missed the blunt, straight to the point attitude of Tsunade.

The blonde alcoholic and gambling addict would never summon her to the Hokage Monument to share a touching, symbolic moment with her. In fact, Tsunade would be more like, "get your shit together brat, you're a grown woman and I'm not babying you!"

"Sakura?"

Sakura sighed and decided to play along; she had most likely tested his patience too much with her previous comment.

She was a coward too, it seemed.

Sakura approached the edge and let a sharp gust of air whip her hair around.

What did she see?

She saw Konoha intact, level with the forest floor around them and not sitting in a crater. She saw the streets bustling with life, people working, conversing, laughing, arguing and, in general, just existing in a time of peace.

Buildings weren't blackened by the licks of Amaterasu flames; there weren't children tentatively bobbing their heads up and down amongst a sea of debris, making sure the coast was clear before they moved locations; there weren't shallow graves, hastily dug or memorial stones dotting the walkways.

Konoha was whole.

However, Sakura doubted the sandaime wanted to hear that or would expect to hear it.

"I see home, hokage-sama," she answered stiffly.

Her answer pleased him. She could tell by the way his fond gaze diverted from their home to her and the slightly upward twitch of his lips. "Very true. I see our home as well, our family. Everyone in Konoha has the Will of Fire. We all love Konoha and want to protect it, but what is Konoha, Sakura-san?"

Sakura sighed and took her time to mull over this question; playing his little game was mentally and emotionally draining, as it forced her to acknowledge her past.

What is Konoha?

When Konoha had been nothing but ashes of the great village it had been, Konoha had remained Konoha because of its people and their indominable spirit. They were frightened, furious, haunted and sombre, but their people had stayed together, determined to weather Sasuke's storm as a unit; a family.

Sakura's stare turned mournful, "it's people."

The sandaime paused, momentarily stunned by her answer and the depths of melancholy in her eyes. "Sometimes adults sound like children and children sound like adults. We often forget the pearls of wisdom young minds can contain."

Sakura scoffed; she wasn't a wise child, she was a bitter, cowardly, weak woman, with a long history of making mistakes, trapped in a child's body.

"Konoha is its people. We could shift 5 kilometres west or east, it matters not. What makes Konoha is our people, shinobi and civilian alike. As hokage, it is my job to guide and protect everyone in this village. It's not an easy job. Sometimes I want to use my brute strength to accomplish change but, in many situations, it is best not to act," he gave her a meaningful look, blatantly referring to the incident with the children.

Sakura fought down the urge to laugh; his attempts to turn this moment into a life lesson were amusing. "As a hokage and shinobi, I face the challenge of standing up for Konoha against others."

"Would you stand up against someone you cared about for the sake of Konoha?" Sakura asked angrily, as she thought of Danzo, Orochimaru and Sai again.

More wrinkles and lines marred him features, it was almost as if her question alone age him another ten years. He had a faraway expression in his eyes as he asked her, in return, "would you stand up against someone you cared about for the sake of Konoha?"

Sakura instantly thought of Sasuke.

Could she stand up to him? Even when the world was crumbling in the palm of his hand, it took dying for her to summon the courage to utter callous words to him. "Nothing can give you meaning, Sasuke. You're doomed to be hollow."

Sakura's eyes took in the sight of a wholesome Konoha; seeing the infrastructure standing strong and people going about doing their mundane tasks filled her with some warmth.

Their village wasn't perfect.

It was corrupt.

Rotten roots were killing off branches of leaves, but the dream of peace was still tangible.

It was easy to pick apart everything bad about their village, however, there were many good things too.

Good hearts, love, families and friends all roamed the streets, making the village thrive even in the shadows.

Konoha was initially a dream of two boys from warring clans, both who had desired peace; now it was reality.

There was more than one bad apple in this basket, but rotten fruit makes good compost and compost helps other plants grow.

To keep this safe, to keep everyone she loved safe, she would kill Sasuke if she needed to. She would never forgive herself, but sacrifices had to be made and she was prepared to suffer the consequences. It was time for her to bear the burden; the very burden Naruto had carried to his grave.

"Yes," she answered, her tone losing the sharp edge it had wielded throughout the course of their conversation. "It wouldn't be easy, but nothing ever is and not doing anything only puts that responsibility on someone's shoulder, which isn't fair."

The sandaime looked long and hard at her face, searching for something; something he mustn't have found as his attention returned to the village once more. "You are very insightful for a child so young. You remind me of someone I once knew well."

Sakura hugged her arms to her chest, trying to chase away the chill his words brought to her. Instead of a pink haired girl, with an ancient pair cerulean blue eyes, there should have been a blonde-haired boy standing here with him.

A boisterous, brash and bright boy, who would have called the hokage, "old man," or "gramps," by now.

She hoped and prayed that she hadn't robbed the world of Naruto by taking his place, but if she had, it was something she couldn't waste time moping over. Time was too precious.

Besides, by honouring and fulfilling his dream of peace, maybe she would later be able to forgive herself.

The sandaime's cloak danced in the wind, while puffs of smoke escaped his lips in clouds. He was standing beside her, yet it felt as if he was miles away. When he finally addressed her, she wasn't taken back by his question and he, in turn, expected her answer.

"Would you like to attend the academy, Sakura-san."

"Yes, hokage-sama."

* * *

All she wanted was to seal her eyelids together and then be embraced by eternal sleep, but she had a lot to do to make up for her mistake before she deserved that small mercy.

He needed her.

Somewhere in Konoha, Danzo and his pack of leaches, were draining everything out of Sai; making him an emotionless puppet that only acted when Danzo pulled his strings and Sakura hated that.

Thinking of the vast difference between Mareo and Sai made her want to reduce the village into a cloud of dust. Why should they embrace the liberty of freedom when someone good and kind had it snatched away from his fingertips?

Sakura shook her head, hoping to disperse those thoughts, because if she thought like that, she was no better than Sasuke and she didn't want to be anything like that man.

There was good in Konoha and she needed to focus on that. Bad and negative things were expertly skilled with seducing people and leading them astray, but she refused to fall victim to their wiles.

Sakura yawned as she entered the classroom.

Kami, she was exhausted.

She had dragged herself our of bed and through the streets to reach the academy. It was her first day and it was important for her to make a good impression, especially since they would have formed preconceived notions about her.

Sakura searched amongst the sea of faces for anyone familiar but came up empty handed. It was a small mercy. Perhaps the gods weren't completely maleficent.

She snuck into a seat at the back beside a window, ensuring there was a significant amount of space between her and the other occupants in the room.

She was used to receiving dirty looks, but the fearful glances occasionally spared to her was new. Rumours from her assault on children in the orphanage must have spread like wildfire. News that she wasn't punished, when she had been caught by the hokage, must have been too.

In fact, many whispers that had reached her had implied that she had been rewarded instead.

Fifteen children hospitalised, and the perpetrator had been given an apartment, people were understandably furious; however, their rage was centred on her and not on the man who had given her such liberties.

Sakura realised it wasn't helpful to garner a reputation for being violent, especially since she shared her body with a dangerous resident, but her temper was becoming difficult to tame.

She was walking a tight rope and the rope was become thinner and thinner with every problem that arose; sooner or later she was going to fall and, she wasn't afraid of a rough landing, she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to control herself as she plummeted.

Her thoughts were swept away as a familiar teacher entered the room. Suzume Uchiha. In her former life, her acquaintance with the woman had been brief. Only two classes in and the massacre occurred and Suzume had been another skeleton shoved into Itachi's closet.

"Good morning class!" the stunning woman exclaimed. The other children happily returned her sentiments, but Sakura glared at the woman.

Dark hair.

Dark eyes.

Pale complexion.

Sai.

Sakura scowled and mentally berated herself for letting her thoughts stray from her mission. Sai was far more important than her reputation, his thoughts were the ones she valued.

Let them see a monster. Whether they saw a child or not mattered very little in the grand scheme of things.

With a dainty smile mounted above her chin, Suzume strolled to the front of the classroom. Her beauty alone stilled the noise in the class.

Suzume flourished a whiteboard marker out of the depths of her handbag and began to elegantly write the contents of the lesson onto the whiteboard.

Sakura smirked to herself. Basic maths, writing and geography were as easy as breathing was to her.

"Hello, I am Suzume-sensei, but most you know that," the woman placed the marker on the desk and twirled around to face the class. Her skirt fluttered with her movement, enrapturing the population of boys and a few girls. "I'm aware we have a new student."

Instantly, the feet of chairs scraped the floor as children flung around to stare at her. Unflinchingly, Sakura stubborn held Suzume's gaze, refusing to falter even as the woman's eyes narrowed into piercing slits. "Generally, new students wait to start class at the beginning of the year."

Suzume clapped her hands together and tried to smile brightly; instead a cunning smirk slithered into place. "As a welcome to the class activity, let's have a quiz for our new classmate."

Suzume spun around against and Sakura's face pinched into a scowl when a floral scent wafted around the room. Her attention was then drawn to the equation written on the board and her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"If 3x-y=12, what is the value of 8x/2y?"

If Naruto received these types of questions, it explained why he had failed so much that, even though he started the academy a few years before them, he had ended up in their class.

Her brain whirled into action, devouring the equation and picking it a part until a viable answer was flung out of her mouth. "2 to the power of 12."

The class gasped and whipped their heads around to face her once more.

Suzume pressed her lips together firmly. "Why don't you show us how you worked that out?"

Not one to back down from a challenge, Sakura complied. She marched down the aisle towards the whiteboard, snatched the marker out of Suzume's manicured claws and wrote out the way her brain discovered the answer.

To her classmates, her words looked like a different language, but Suzume understood. Her dark eyes raked over Sakura's answer multiple times before they settled on being displeased.

However, the woman bulldozed on, piling question after question onto Sakura.

"You are a genin. You have two other teammates and a jonin leader. You are guarding one woman. During the mission, a band of C-rank bandits' attack. What should you do?"

"Await orders from my superior."

"She informs you that she will attack the bandits, but you and your teammates must stay guard. What formation do you use?"

"Triangle. It's basic yet effective for a trio of genin."

Suzume scowled and flung more questions Sakura's way, but Sakura answered each with ease. The entire lesson went by in this fashion and slowly the look of irritation in Suzume's eyes was replaced with a combination of awe and fear; a violent, four-year-old genius was dangerous and Suzume could only imagine how much more dangerous this kid would become.

* * *

Thwack!

Bullseye.

Thwack!

Bullseye.

She flicked her wrist again, sending another kunai propelling towards the target.

Thwack!

Bullseye.

"Incredible," Daikoku whispered, marvelling at the targets set before the class, "Take ten steps back and aim at the targets attached to the trees."

Sakura obeyed the man's orders without complaint, he was her new favourite teacher after.

The other academy teachers were at a lost with her. She was quiet, only speaking when called upon and that occurred very rarely. She was punctual and organised. Her hair was always tamed into a braid, her clothes well kempt and ironed (by the bottom of a hot pot but that information was kept to herself).

Despite the many opportunities they presented her with, Sakura never lost her temper. Instead her anger simmered into fuel, providing her with more energy when she trained.

There was no issue to be had with her, unless fabricated.

Sakura was the epitome of the perfect student, yet, only Daikoku treated her as such; Suzume crept around her as if the floor was covered in broken glass and the history teacher, Kaede, dissected her constantly with her hawk-like eyes.

Sakura eyed the targets and mentally calculated the angle and the amount of force she had to use. With a flick of her wrist, the kunai cut through the air.

Thwack!

Bullseye.

Ten more followed with the same result. The classroom of children gathered around to watch her, abandoning their own posts. With every accurate hit made, she would hear sharp intakes of air. Every 100% score and every A grade she earned sparked envy, resentment and terror in the orbs of her peers.

Whenever she entered her classrooms, the sea parted, giving her an aisle to walk down and their loud squawks were lulled to silence.

Adults and children at the academy were both at a lost with her.

Many children seemed tempted to launch themselves at her, sometimes she found herself circled by a pack, but one look from her had them scaling the walls to retain a safe distance from her.

Most times, she appreciated the distance. Other times, loneliness struck.

Daikoku beamed and proudly pet Sakura on the back. "You have so much potential, keep exploring it Sakura-san."

Sakura smiled half-heartedly at the portly man. She had never liked the man in her other life, as he had been so focused on rattling off Sasuke's ears with compliments for Itachi to teach her class, but in this life, one cheerful comment made by him brightened her day. "Thank you, Daikoku-sensei."

"I better go and help your classmates, can't have them running home and rattling off about favouritism," Daikoku quipped good naturedly as he walked towards one of her classmates.

Sakura grinned, she knew how her classmates felt with that. She had never been the favourite as she had always been leagues behind her peers; oh, how times had changed.

The student Daikoku selected was an Aburame, judging by his outfit. A cousin of Shino's perhaps?

The tips of the boy's ears went red as the class diverted their attention to him.

Thwack! Thwack! One of his kunai hit the target, a metre away from the centre. His other kunai hit the centre of the target, but then proceeded to fall to the ground. There was not enough force behind his throw.

Sakura wasn't surprised. The Aburame were brilliant, however, like many other clans with special techniques, they became short-sighted; many Aburame without their bugs would be useless in battle, Shino had been an exception thanks to Kurenai.

"Excellent, Aburame-san. Keep working at your technique," Daikoku praised, although his eyes flickered back to Sakura's targets; each bullseye mark was blocked by the handles of various kunai.

Sakura bit down her smile. She had no right to experience a sense of arrogance and pride when her skill came from years of experience, but at least her skill was being noticed.

Hopefully Daikoku recommended that she was put up a year or two because then she would be another step closer to Sai.

* * *

The penetrating blue of her eyes were fixed in his mind.

Eyes too old, too shrewd, too intelligent for a child her age.

Where had he gone wrong?

Children were supposed to be children, so many good people had died to ensure that and yet children were still being forced to grow up years before their time.

Hiruzen returned his gaze to Daikoku Funeno, Suzume Uchiha and Kaede Nara. The latter's gaze unnerved him, alike many Nara, she was able peel away layers and layers of people's minds in order to find what they wanted. It didn't help that Kaede had been his wife's friend.

What would Biwako think of him if she were alive?

"What would you three suggest?" he asked, placing the ball in their court.

All three had come to him, placed a thick folder of completed assessments on his desk and had debriefed him on Sakura's progress.

Unfortunately, Sakura's intelligence and looks were inherited from her father.

Sometimes it hurt to look at her because he saw his successor instead. Jiraiya had loved that boy as if he were his own.

Daikoku spoke first, with much enthusiasm. "Alike Itachi, Sakura is years above her peers. She is at the top of her taijutsu class and weapons class. If she stays at the academy, her progress will deteriorate. She is fit to graduate. Konoha will gain an asset when a hi-ate is tied around her forehead."

Suzume was next, however, she lacked her colleague's enthusiasm and appeared to be wrought with worry. "I have never encountered a child like her at that age. She completes every task I set her and scores full marks on every assessment she is handed. Her intelligence is admirable, but power easily corrupts. Someone so young and so volatile should not be given the responsibilities of a genin."

Hiruzen felt instant relief, with Suzume's comment alone, he had enough reason to keep Sakura from graduating.

Then, Kaede laughed, "coming from a Uchiha? How ironic. Power crazed madness is often associated with your clan, just as your fancy eyes are."

Suzume's eyes bled red and black commas spun wildly. "Excuse me?"

"And look at your temperament. I sprouted less than thirty words and yet it was enough to have you trigger a dangerous technique," Kaede said, with a cunning grin curving her lips. "Are you fit to represent Konoha? Are you fit enough to teach impressionable children?"

Red turned black and Suzume fell silent. Kaede had proved her point and the young woman was wary about Kaede twisting her words even further.

Kaede then turned her piercing gaze back onto Hiruzen. "The child is angry, but her anger is not unfounded, nor is it her source of strength. She has a very protective nature, at least that is what I have deducted from rumours of various incidents she had been embroiled in."

Hiruzen subtly winced, thinking of two of Danzo's recent recruits. A young boy with a face covered in paint and another boy, the same age, with an apt for manipulating shadows.

He read between the lines. This was about Shikama Nara as much as it was about Sakura.

"Suzume-san, Daikoku-san, I appreciate your comments. Please return to the academy," Hiruzen ordered, surprising the pair with his abruptness.

Once the pair were gone, Kaede struck. "The Nara clan demands the return of Shikama Nara or this administration will lose our support."

Hiruzen winced. The Akimichi and Yamanaka clan would follow the Nara clan and those three clans have historically been allied with the Sarutobi clan; it would not look good for his clan or for him if that alliance was swiftly ended.

Too many questions would be asked, and he wouldn't be able to answer them.

Hiruzen decided to pretend to be oblivious. "I don't know-"

"Do not lie to me, Hiruzen. Danzo managed to swindle the boy's mother because she isn't a true blooded Nara, but us Nara's are not easily fooled," Kaede snapped and a few stray strands of silver escaped the confines of her bun.

Hiruzen sighed and slumped in his seat. This time he settled on the truth. "I cannot do what you want, Kaede. Danzo will not listen."

"Are you a spineless slug or are you a hokage?" Kaede clenched her jaw and eyed him with disgust. "I'm glad Biwako is at rest, it spares her from having to see how much of a coward her husband has become."

Hiruzen dropped his gaze. "I will see what I can do."

"If our clans have to lose our children, the Sarutobi clan has to do the same," Kaede stated firmly and she deliberately knocked over his photograph of his new-born grandson. "Once he can walk, throw him to the wolves as you do so often with our children."

With that, Kaede left, slamming the door so hard it nearly fell from its hinges.

Hiruzen straightened the photograph back up and felt a trickle of fear rush down his spine.

What if Kaede's words rang some truth and Danzo asked for Konohamaru?

Drinking in drags of hypnotic smoke failed to calm his erratic pulse, instead flashes of memories danced tauntingly in and out of his view. He tried to cling to one memory; the one of his wife; he longed to cradle her face in the palm of his hand, to feel the warmth of her skin chase away the shrapnel of ice embedded in his heart.

But his hand raked through empty air and wisps of smoke slipped through the space between his fingers. He was a dehydrated man, craving a single drop of the past (where Biwako was alive, Asuma was at home and Orochimaru was still within his reach).

Yet, the further he walked backwards, trying to retrace his steps, the more convoluted the present became.

It was all a mess.

He had weathered the heat from his former teammates for his pursuit of peace. However, as the years passed, he accepted a simple fact; he would never be the one at the helm, leading his people on that path.

How could he? No one could truly be in two places at once and his feet were deeply rooted in the past.

He was unfit to lead.

Sakura and her friend proved that.

He had watched their interactions. With his crystal ball, Hiruzen had seen their friendship blossom.

Reports from the orphanage's matron had fostered concern in him and it only festered as he watched Sakura raise wall after wall, barricading herself away so no one could touch her.

Then, that boy entered her life and it was like witnessing the sun break through the clouds in Amegakure.

Hiruzen was worried, when harsh words constantly barrelled down Sakura's sharp tongue, but the boy never buckled. Instead, the boy bore the brunt of her attacks with a smile.

Slowly, Sakura had unravelled her layers and the boy had snuck as close to her as he could. ("Just like Jiraiya and Orochimaru," his mind whispered).

Once Sakura started to teach the boy, once she started to give instead of take, Hiruzen knew that she would be okay; because Orochimaru only received, he never reciprocated and look at where that boy was now.

Hiruzen grimaced. He should have done more for Orochimaru.

That thought was tattooed in his head, it was a bitter lesson he learnt when he was emptying bodies out of an abandoned lab, burying nameless children in the shroud of darkness with the help of shinobi who promised silence.

Somewhere, with Orochimaru, he went wrong.

He refused to make the same mistake with anyone else, Sakura especially.

Her lack of attachment and emotion had made her a dangerous liability in his former teammate's eyes, but her friendship with the boy had finally silenced them; no longer were they constantly hanging over his shoulder, instructing him to extract the beast from her body. (And he was grateful, so grateful. There was no way he would survive if the light from his third student's eyes vanished. Tsunade and Orochimaru were lost to sorrow, but Sakura was keeping Jiraiya afloat).

But then, Danzo swooped in and nipped that friendship in the bud.

Hiruzen pressed himself against the back of his seat, moulding his ancient bones into the cushion, and scanned the portraits of three great men hanging on the wall of his office. Sometimes he wished paintings could speak, other times he was relieved they couldn't.

Hiruzen remembered something Hashirama had told him, when the vibrancy from the man's face had wilted away after the events that occurred in the Valley of the End. "It isn't easy to confront your enemies, but it's much more difficult to confront the ones you love. However, if doing the right thing was easy, everyone would do it."

When Sakura had made a similar comment in their first proper meeting, he had felt a sense of déjà vu wash over him. He almost thought Hashirama was there, but then pink and blue dispersed that notion.

Hashirama had killed his best friend for the sake of the village, even though it tormented him to do so. Hashirama had done what was best for the village.

Hiruzen knew he couldn't do that. No matter what people told him, he still believed that the good in his former student had to outweigh the bad. There still had to be hope for Orochimaru, Jiraiya would find it.

Hiruzen skipped the second portrait, because he knew what his sensei would say, but his gaze lingered on the last portrait and he soaked in the familiar features. Then, disapproving orbs, bright with intelligence, replaced the man's eyes and Hiruzen was unable to meet the painting's gaze.

It would have been a blessing if her eyes had been only one shade away from indigo, but very few blessings graced him these past few years.

She bore no round cheeks or big, doe-like eyes. Her words were never clipped together, she was not loud, and she never rambled.

No.

She painfully resembled her father in more ways than one.

Not that small snippets of Kushina had never made it into her daughter, there was an air of unpredictability that surrounded Sakura, along with dogged determination and an inclination for violence.

Hiruzen sighed, exhaustion drooped his hooded eyelids. A miniature version of Kushina would have been easier to reign in; a mischievous, playful and overwhelming brash child that wore her heart on her sleeve would have been easily manoeuvred in this game.

Small snacks of acknowledgement would have kept her full until he was able to convince his former teammates and friends that she was at the right age to attend the academy. That was what he had planned.

However, he should have learnt long ago that life never went as it was planned. If it did, he would be at home reminiscing about a wild youth with his wife.

Hiruzen sighed again. Waiting in the corner of his office, probing him with a piercing glare, was Danzo. His eyes weren't needed to confirm it. After years of friendship, Hiruzen was well accustomed to his best friend's chakra, even if Danzo tried to suppress it to the point it almost felt non-existent.

"You need to return those children."

Danzo shuffled closer, letting the morning glow embrace him. A familiar frown, deeply entrenched into tan skin, caught the light and Hiruzen was left stumped as he tried to recall a time when he had last seen a genuine smile instated there instead. "They are too valuable as weapons to be returned."

Hiruzen's shoulders sagged and a pang of sadness drew his lips downwards. He wished, once more, that he could turn back the hands of time. When had his friend become this thing that hungered for ultimate power and devoured everything that stood in his way?

The alien chakra that buzzed around Danzo's right arm did not belong to his friend; neither did Hashirama's charka, which the left side of Danzo's chest emitted.

There was only one person alive who saw no wrong in altering the human body in such a disturbing way; Orochimaru.

Hiruzen's face crumbled more.

When had he lost his best friend and student?

And, could he really get them back? Or was he sacrificing every piece on the board for the sake of a king that was already gone.

"Did you expect her to lash out and release the kyuubi so that you could store the tailed beast inside yourself?" Hiruzen asked softly, voice almost impalpable because the lump of sorrow swelling in his throat.

"You're questioning my intentions, old friend?" Danzo's nebulous gaze lacked the amusement that tinged his words. "It's easy to place the blame on someone else rather than accepting responsibilities for your own actions."

Hiruzen swallowed and tore his gaze away from the man that stood before him.

"People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones," Danzo sauntered towards the desk and gripped the edge, all while looking down his nose at Hiruzen.

"We agreed that you would end the illegal induction of children into ROOT," Hiruzen whispered, unable to gather the courage to meet Danzo's eyes; because he was right, nothing happened under his nose without his prying eyes observing; not when the crystal ball sitting in his drawer acted like the eyes of god.

"We agreed on many things and yet both of us have come short on our arrangements. You told the council that you would only enter her into the academy once she was of age."

Hiruzen reached into his pocket and added more herb to his pipe; he was going to need it. With a flick of his fingers, he summoned a flame and when the flame devoured the green herbs and turned them into black ash, he thought of all the young sprouts that were razed to the ground by Danzo's ambition; and by his own reluctance to condemn the actions of the people he loved.

"We fought so hard to give them the right to a childhood," Hiruzen whispered and he remembered the first and second shinobi wars. When his mother, stricken with grief, was forced to wave her children goodbye as they marched off to kill or be killed. Out of all his siblings that had walked out his mother's door, he was the only one to return and walk back through it.

His sisters, his brother, they all returned in a match box.

"You're robbing children of the opportunity to be children, Danzo."

Danzo's low, mocking chuckle reverberated around the room. "We're discussing this when you've placed a two-year-old in the academy?"

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. "Either you're going senile in your old age or you can't see above your own ambition, she is four years old."

"Two years doesn't make much difference," Danzo scoffed.

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes. "It seems age doesn't make a difference to you in general."

"Why judge me, old friend, when you let Orochimaru escape?"

Hiruzen turned pallid as the scene in front of him altered; he was back in the thick of night, heaving the corpses of children into hastily dug graves.

Children missing limbs, organs and names.

Children who had been under his care as hokage.

Children he had let down.

"He murders hundreds and thousands of children for his own power. I do it for a village," Danzo continued and Hiruzen raked his hand through his hair.

No matter how hard he tried to repress the memory, he just couldn't; buried in the pines, forgotten and nameless, without a rock to mark their graves was the future of Konoha.

"This is different," he tried to argue, but the statement sounded weak to his own ears.

"Oh, so there are no set rules for all?" Danzo asked, sniffing out the golden nugget concealed in Hiruzen's words like he always did. "You knew that Orochimaru was experimenting on children before even I knew."

The dominating odour of dirt, blood and bleach, mingled with a soft scent of pine, filled his nostrils.

He remembered going through room after room, emptying cot after cot. The surgical room had been the worse; a thick blanket of blood had eroded the air and had coated his tongue with every breath he inhaled; Hiruzen winced and hastily rubbed his taste buds against the roof of his mouth, trying to lose the taste of iron covering them.

Kami, what had he done?

What had he allowed?

The gleeful giggles of Konohamaru rang in his ears; not too long ago, his grandson was red with a face shrivelled up like a prune and, not too long ago, his daughter was beaming proudly as her new-born son screamed and gasped in air to inflate his lungs.

His daughter would die from grief if Konohamaru was taken from her, he could only imagine the grief the parents of those children suffered when their children disappeared and never returned.

Hiruzen slapped his pipe on the desk and crushed the embers, which continued to glow and emit smoke, under the pads of his thumb. The sensation stung, and thin layers of his leathery skin were burnt away, but it was nothing like the agony those children felt in their last moments.

Danzo's eyes gleamed, he had Hiruzen trapped and he knew it. "The great hokage, the grandfather of the village, allowed his student to murder his grandchildren. Instead of bringing said student to justice, you send him away for his own safety and let your other student chase after him."

Danzo backed away, leaving Hiruzen to sleep in the bed he had made, but not without adding a final comment.

"I might have two graveyards filled with children, but you have over a dozen."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading my story. I must apologise again for the late review and I will apologise in advance because the next chapter will probably be just as late. This was really a filler chapter, in my mind, because I wanted to set up a foundation for Hiruzen and Danzo's turbulent relationship and history (and future events), but also because I wanted to swiftly end Sakura's days at the academy. From henceforth, we are heading upwards and onwards! (Missions and training session are more interesting to write about, I can't really do the class thing. Maybe because I am in class often and writing about being stuck in a class whilst being mostly stuck in a class isn't very fun).**

 **Anyways, thank you for reading! Your reviews were amazing. I never expected so many. I was stunned to see that my story had gained so much interest when there are so many better writers with amazing stories in the Naruto fanfiction category. Pulling My Weight is one of my personal favourites, I can only dream of being that skilled at writing and creating interesting, original plots.**

 **Anyways, sorry for the rushed chapter but I wanted to you give all something.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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